The big idea in this chapter is tiering. For the purpose of the book and the chapter the author states that tiering emphasizes the adjustments teachers make in assessment according to students’ readiness levels. In this chapter I learned that it is important to start tiering by expecting every student to demonstrate full proficiency with the standard this way the minimum expectation is the standard or the benchmark performance. I also learned that it is helpful to list every skill or bit of information a student must use in order to meet the need of the task or assignment successfully. As teachers we can do this since most of the material we teach has subsets of skills and content that we can break down for students. This chapter talked about learning contracts and why they were beneficial for some students to have. I learned that they allow students to work at their own pace and that they are teacher and student designed tasks that fulfill the expectations of the unit. I also learned that checkpoints are listed on most contracts. The checkpoint listed help the teacher assess student progress and possibly change the instruction as a result and they keep students dedicated to the tasks and learning. Other things can be helpful when tiering are tic-tac-toe boards, cubing, summarization pyramid. Two other important ideas in this chapter which majorly impacted me were Frank William’s Taxonomy of Creativity and RAFT(S). Using tiering when making my lesson plans will be helpful down the road when I need it instead of having to go back and incorporate them into my lessons and assessments later.
Cheyenne
This chapter deals with tiering different assignments for different levels of academic readiness. It suggests keeping the bare minimum for the standard in question as the lowest tier, raising the bar a bit for the middle/average tier, and raising the bar higher for the advanced tier. One of the biggest questions I have regarding tiering, though, is how do we tier things without singling people out? I think my struggle with this idea comes from the way my high school ran things, being that we had different ‘levels’ of courses, from 1-4. Level 1 classes were for those who were seriously struggling with a subject and needed a slow paced curriculum. Level 4, which eventually evolved into AP classes, were fast paced and challenging classes. Levels 2-3 were both average areas, where most students fell, with one being slightly slower than the other. So our teachers didn’t have to tier work and have three different tiers in one class, because the students in their class were already expected to have a pre-determined level of understanding. Those who fell behind would often realize that they were better suited to the next level down. And to me, this just seems like the fairest way to do things. No students are being singled out because they’re ‘below average’ and no students are treated as teacher’s pets or nerds for doing advanced work. The book, and this chapter especially, stress making school work understandable for all tier levels, but it leaves out the social aspect of all of these students in a single class together. Like, whether we like it or not, there will always be social implications to having work or doing a project that is below the average student level. From my experience, there’s less stigma from having different leveled classes already sorted out.
Dominick
The chapter delves into the concept of tiering, which in a nutshell means that teachers adjust their assignments and assessments. The point of this is to meet the needs of the different learners in the classroom. Personally I believe that this very important because as a teacher we must be flexible when teaching our students. If we are not flexible with our students how are we to expect them to understand what we are teaching? If we are flexible for a students they will be more likely to make a better connection in the classroom. When a teacher is flexible it puts the students at ease. If a teacher is not flexible negative reactions are bound to happen in the classroom. When teachers tier this makes it possible for students who are different readiness levels to understand what is going on. It allows them to have a better chance of understanding what is going on. There are different techniques a teacher can use when tiering students. Changing the verb, one word summarization, cubing tic-tac-toe and many other techniques allow teachers to use this tiering technique. I think this important because tiering provides students with a better chance to learn when they are at different stages of their readiness. Students become much more able to understand the material and are not as pressured. This also provides students with freedoms. The students are able to choose the assignments, which will ultimately make them more comfortable with what they are doing.
Cory
This chapter talked about tiering. Tiering is defined as how teachers adjust their assignments and assessments based on students’ readiness levels, interest in the class, and learner profiles. In general, tiering is used to make a class harder or easier for a student who is either bored by the content they already know or struggling because the content is too complex for them at the moment. Teachers can do this by scaling the work, either subtly or drastically. In some cases, drastic tiering has to happen, and then they slowly bring the complexing back up as the student begins to understand the materials. This can be a very difficult task. You want to be able to give all students the challenge that is appropriate for them, but you don’t want to make a social hierarchy in the classroom; that is, you don’t want to separate the class into the, “smart kids,” and the, “dumb kids.” If this mentality is taken by your students, you have done tiering incorrectly in my opinion. You want all of your students to feel as equals, not smarter or dumber than other student, whether or not they may actually be. This is what makes tiering a challenge in schools, because it is very hard to avoid this. I have had a couple of teacher do tiering in the classroom (before I actually knew the official name of it), and some students in the group that needed help felt they were dumber than the rest of their classmates and openly expressed it. This is what you want to avoid when it comes to tiering.
Lydia
This chapter shows the importance of finding a level of work that will challenge your students while also meeting their learning needs. As a teacher I would use tiering if I had many different readiness levels in my class yet I would want to push each readiness level higher. This would affect my class because they would still be learning at a pace that is comfortable enough for them. If I add in small challenges along the way students would not see that in the long run they have achieved more than what they thought they would. As a teacher I would have to find a way to make each day a little more challenging for each learning readiness group. Some ideas that I thought were interesting and I could use in my own classroom were the tic-tac-toe boards. I thought these could be helpful for tiering in my classroom because they give students the ability to choose what they want to do while still being at their level of understanding. If students are able to have a choice they will be more interested in what they have to learn and push themselves to do the work as well. Another idea was the summarization pyramid, this could help with tiering because I could give more complex questions that students should look for in their social studies readings and work up to them analyzing how different events in history happened. Also using the pyramid would work as a good note taking strategy and would allow for students to have access to study topics. Tiering is something that will encourage students to go beyond the minimal amount of effort and would possibly help motivate the students in my class.
Shane
The main concept in this chapter is tiering. As a teacher this is important because it is all about how to design an assignment for students. This allows us to make assignments for students that may be above the standard we are at, right at it or way below the learning level. This is all about how ready our students are and as teachers we need to be able to assess that and see how ready they are and to the rate that they understand the material. I have to say that this reading was the most confusing for me. If we look back to the other readings and blogs that we have done it said something about the “more or less” approach. As teachers where do we draw the line for some students turning work in late and some having more to do than others. Holding kids to different levels and standards is not something I think I could do even if we were taught that. This could cause problems in the classroom between peers, some students are going to believe that others don’t have to work as hard, or that we don’t expect the same amount out of each of our students. I feel I would understand it if some students had an IEP, but for the others in the classroom I am really curious as to where and when we draw the line for extensions and other exceptions for our students. The other thing I liked reading about would be the different examples that were offered in the reading and also seen in our stage 2 packets.
Sara
In chapter five of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, the main focus is tiering assessments for students. Tiering assessments means tailoring assignments to meet the need of the students and to ensure that a student is challenged just the right amount. While there may sometimes simply be a assignment a,b, and c, each with a different difficult, this may not always be true. It is important to make sure that assignments fit appropriately with the difficulty that a student needs.
There are many different strategies that can be used to tier the assignments. However before thinking about what the different assignments should be, teachers should first observe their students and decide which students may need a less difficult assignment and which students may need a more challenging assignment. Once a teacher has a good grasp on what their students and need and how they will separate the assignments, they can then think about the actual assignments. In a math classroom one thing I may do if I were teaching how to solve linear equations, is have the students who need a less difficult assignment work on equations with only one variable. While students who need more of a challenge can work on equations that have variables on both sides. In both cases the equations would gradually get harder to challenge the students.
One of the keys to tiering is ensuring that the assignments are truly designed for the students so they are able to get the most out of the lesson. If tiering is done correctly it can be an excellent tool for teachers to use to better help their students.
Katelin
Tiering was the main concept in chapter 5 and I found it absolutely amazing! It is completely needed to adjust challenge levels depending on students’ readiness levels. There are numerous ways to tier an assignment, and it is also not saying you have to tier every aspect of an assignment. As a teacher, we are tiering assignments every day subtly. We could start easy and progressively get harder, or start where we think the students should be, and have to tier a little lower to help them. Learning contracts were discussed in this chapter and these were very new to me and brought up new thoughts. It is a very serious responsibility for the student because they know what is accepted of them and what happens if they were to break their contract. It is great for both the student and teacher because the student is allowed to work at their own pace and their own learning style to complete the task. They are allowed the responsibility until any aspect of the contract is broken, and they then lose the privilege. It gets the students to be able to be dedicated to their tasks. Learning menus were also a big thing that stood out to me. I think it is great for students to have the autonomy to be able to choose what they want to do. As teachers, giving options can be tricky, so having the “entree” as the required to do, and then choices for appetizers, desserts, and side dishes is good for students, and creates creativity and difference in the classroom.
Cooper
This chapter focused largely on the concept of tiering. Basically as teachers we should try to be flexible with the difficulty of our content so we can reach all learners. For students deemed to be in the lower tier they are given less challenging material that would be appropriate for the pace they’re learning at. The middle tier which would typically comprise the majority of the class would be given material that is moderately challenging, and the top tier would be given the most challenging work. I think this strategy while on the surface sounds like a great way to keep all students engaged it could also run into some issues. First, how do I determine which student belongs in which tier? If a student happens to not be engaged when I choose to gauge their levels he or she could potentially be receiving work far below a challenging level for them all year which could potentially make them even less engaged. In addition students could likely realize pretty quickly that there are different levels and may feel singled out or inadequate. Perhaps even students in the upper tier may feel it’s not fair that they are receiving more difficult work. While I do like the concept of having students feel appropriately challenged I think there could be problems with imposing a tier system. An alternative could be having individual conferences with students to gauge their comfort level with the material and give them a choice for either a less challenging or more challenging option.
Laura
I had never heard of the concept of tiering before reading this chapter, but it sounds very similar to scaffolding. I understand how it can be a valuable tool in the classroom because it allows students to begin with a relatively simple task and then gradually build off of that knowledge while the complexity of the task at hand increases. In theory, it makes a lot of sense. The only thing I am worried about is learning how to “tier” at a rate that is comfortable and beneficial for my students. In order to do this, not only I am going to have practice tiering like Wormeli suggests, but I’m also going to have to really get to know my students. (It seems like everything we’ve been reading about goes back to the concept of knowing your students). Once I know where their strengths are and what things they need extra help with I will be able to tier their lessons accordingly. One thing I really like about the tiering strategies that Wormeli presents is that they are easily differentiated. A few of my favorite ones were learning contracts, RAFT(S) (which reminded me a lot of GRASPS) and one-word summaries. I think that learning contracts sound excellent for differentiation because they allow students to work at their own pace and to build from the level that they are at. RAFT(S) reminded me a lot of GRASPS, except it sounds like it would take a lot of planning to create “menus.” Lastly, I think that one-word summaries are good for the English classroom because they require students to exercise their vocabulary. Again, before I could use these ideas in my classroom I would need to know my students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Rhi
This chapter was very confusing for me. After reading I think I was more confused about what tiering means. When I got to the end of it, there were some discussion questions that I decided to focus on. I think overall these questions addressed the main point and concern that I think a lot of teachers struggle to find a balance with, and that’s when to be firm with students and when to be more laid back. There are times when you’ll have a student who always slacks off and then there will be times where a student always does their work, but when the day comes that they do something out of the ordinary, how will you handle it? I think every situation, not only in teaching, but when making decisions, you have to take a step back and look at it as a whole. It’s important to treat every student with the same amount of respect and rules, but when a student is having a hard time and isn’t getting their work done, I think in this case it’s the job of the teacher to sit down with either the student or the student’s parents and find out what’s really going on. Maybe the work is boring, they don’t understand, or something outside of school has been going on that is distracting him/her from doing any school work. As well as communicating with the family, you can talk with other teachers about how the student is doing in their classes. If they have a similar view than something is probably going on and instead of punishing the student with bad grades or detention, find out the route of the problem and attempt to help this student succeed.
Table of Contents
Sarah
The big idea in this chapter is tiering. For the purpose of the book and the chapter the author states that tiering emphasizes the adjustments teachers make in assessment according to students’ readiness levels. In this chapter I learned that it is important to start tiering by expecting every student to demonstrate full proficiency with the standard this way the minimum expectation is the standard or the benchmark performance. I also learned that it is helpful to list every skill or bit of information a student must use in order to meet the need of the task or assignment successfully. As teachers we can do this since most of the material we teach has subsets of skills and content that we can break down for students. This chapter talked about learning contracts and why they were beneficial for some students to have. I learned that they allow students to work at their own pace and that they are teacher and student designed tasks that fulfill the expectations of the unit. I also learned that checkpoints are listed on most contracts. The checkpoint listed help the teacher assess student progress and possibly change the instruction as a result and they keep students dedicated to the tasks and learning. Other things can be helpful when tiering are tic-tac-toe boards, cubing, summarization pyramid. Two other important ideas in this chapter which majorly impacted me were Frank William’s Taxonomy of Creativity and RAFT(S). Using tiering when making my lesson plans will be helpful down the road when I need it instead of having to go back and incorporate them into my lessons and assessments later.Cheyenne
This chapter deals with tiering different assignments for different levels of academic readiness. It suggests keeping the bare minimum for the standard in question as the lowest tier, raising the bar a bit for the middle/average tier, and raising the bar higher for the advanced tier. One of the biggest questions I have regarding tiering, though, is how do we tier things without singling people out? I think my struggle with this idea comes from the way my high school ran things, being that we had different ‘levels’ of courses, from 1-4. Level 1 classes were for those who were seriously struggling with a subject and needed a slow paced curriculum. Level 4, which eventually evolved into AP classes, were fast paced and challenging classes. Levels 2-3 were both average areas, where most students fell, with one being slightly slower than the other. So our teachers didn’t have to tier work and have three different tiers in one class, because the students in their class were already expected to have a pre-determined level of understanding. Those who fell behind would often realize that they were better suited to the next level down. And to me, this just seems like the fairest way to do things. No students are being singled out because they’re ‘below average’ and no students are treated as teacher’s pets or nerds for doing advanced work. The book, and this chapter especially, stress making school work understandable for all tier levels, but it leaves out the social aspect of all of these students in a single class together. Like, whether we like it or not, there will always be social implications to having work or doing a project that is below the average student level. From my experience, there’s less stigma from having different leveled classes already sorted out.Dominick
The chapter delves into the concept of tiering, which in a nutshell means that teachers adjust their assignments and assessments. The point of this is to meet the needs of the different learners in the classroom. Personally I believe that this very important because as a teacher we must be flexible when teaching our students. If we are not flexible with our students how are we to expect them to understand what we are teaching? If we are flexible for a students they will be more likely to make a better connection in the classroom. When a teacher is flexible it puts the students at ease. If a teacher is not flexible negative reactions are bound to happen in the classroom. When teachers tier this makes it possible for students who are different readiness levels to understand what is going on. It allows them to have a better chance of understanding what is going on. There are different techniques a teacher can use when tiering students. Changing the verb, one word summarization, cubing tic-tac-toe and many other techniques allow teachers to use this tiering technique. I think this important because tiering provides students with a better chance to learn when they are at different stages of their readiness. Students become much more able to understand the material and are not as pressured. This also provides students with freedoms. The students are able to choose the assignments, which will ultimately make them more comfortable with what they are doing.Cory
This chapter talked about tiering. Tiering is defined as how teachers adjust their assignments and assessments based on students’ readiness levels, interest in the class, and learner profiles. In general, tiering is used to make a class harder or easier for a student who is either bored by the content they already know or struggling because the content is too complex for them at the moment. Teachers can do this by scaling the work, either subtly or drastically. In some cases, drastic tiering has to happen, and then they slowly bring the complexing back up as the student begins to understand the materials. This can be a very difficult task. You want to be able to give all students the challenge that is appropriate for them, but you don’t want to make a social hierarchy in the classroom; that is, you don’t want to separate the class into the, “smart kids,” and the, “dumb kids.” If this mentality is taken by your students, you have done tiering incorrectly in my opinion. You want all of your students to feel as equals, not smarter or dumber than other student, whether or not they may actually be. This is what makes tiering a challenge in schools, because it is very hard to avoid this. I have had a couple of teacher do tiering in the classroom (before I actually knew the official name of it), and some students in the group that needed help felt they were dumber than the rest of their classmates and openly expressed it. This is what you want to avoid when it comes to tiering.Lydia
This chapter shows the importance of finding a level of work that will challenge your students while also meeting their learning needs. As a teacher I would use tiering if I had many different readiness levels in my class yet I would want to push each readiness level higher. This would affect my class because they would still be learning at a pace that is comfortable enough for them. If I add in small challenges along the way students would not see that in the long run they have achieved more than what they thought they would. As a teacher I would have to find a way to make each day a little more challenging for each learning readiness group.Some ideas that I thought were interesting and I could use in my own classroom were the tic-tac-toe boards. I thought these could be helpful for tiering in my classroom because they give students the ability to choose what they want to do while still being at their level of understanding. If students are able to have a choice they will be more interested in what they have to learn and push themselves to do the work as well. Another idea was the summarization pyramid, this could help with tiering because I could give more complex questions that students should look for in their social studies readings and work up to them analyzing how different events in history happened. Also using the pyramid would work as a good note taking strategy and would allow for students to have access to study topics. Tiering is something that will encourage students to go beyond the minimal amount of effort and would possibly help motivate the students in my class.
Shane
The main concept in this chapter is tiering. As a teacher this is important because it is all about how to design an assignment for students. This allows us to make assignments for students that may be above the standard we are at, right at it or way below the learning level. This is all about how ready our students are and as teachers we need to be able to assess that and see how ready they are and to the rate that they understand the material. I have to say that this reading was the most confusing for me. If we look back to the other readings and blogs that we have done it said something about the “more or less” approach. As teachers where do we draw the line for some students turning work in late and some having more to do than others. Holding kids to different levels and standards is not something I think I could do even if we were taught that. This could cause problems in the classroom between peers, some students are going to believe that others don’t have to work as hard, or that we don’t expect the same amount out of each of our students. I feel I would understand it if some students had an IEP, but for the others in the classroom I am really curious as to where and when we draw the line for extensions and other exceptions for our students. The other thing I liked reading about would be the different examples that were offered in the reading and also seen in our stage 2 packets.Sara
In chapter five of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, the main focus is tiering assessments for students. Tiering assessments means tailoring assignments to meet the need of the students and to ensure that a student is challenged just the right amount. While there may sometimes simply be a assignment a,b, and c, each with a different difficult, this may not always be true. It is important to make sure that assignments fit appropriately with the difficulty that a student needs.There are many different strategies that can be used to tier the assignments. However before thinking about what the different assignments should be, teachers should first observe their students and decide which students may need a less difficult assignment and which students may need a more challenging assignment. Once a teacher has a good grasp on what their students and need and how they will separate the assignments, they can then think about the actual assignments. In a math classroom one thing I may do if I were teaching how to solve linear equations, is have the students who need a less difficult assignment work on equations with only one variable. While students who need more of a challenge can work on equations that have variables on both sides. In both cases the equations would gradually get harder to challenge the students.
One of the keys to tiering is ensuring that the assignments are truly designed for the students so they are able to get the most out of the lesson. If tiering is done correctly it can be an excellent tool for teachers to use to better help their students.
Katelin
Tiering was the main concept in chapter 5 and I found it absolutely amazing! It is completely needed to adjust challenge levels depending on students’ readiness levels. There are numerous ways to tier an assignment, and it is also not saying you have to tier every aspect of an assignment. As a teacher, we are tiering assignments every day subtly. We could start easy and progressively get harder, or start where we think the students should be, and have to tier a little lower to help them. Learning contracts were discussed in this chapter and these were very new to me and brought up new thoughts. It is a very serious responsibility for the student because they know what is accepted of them and what happens if they were to break their contract. It is great for both the student and teacher because the student is allowed to work at their own pace and their own learning style to complete the task. They are allowed the responsibility until any aspect of the contract is broken, and they then lose the privilege. It gets the students to be able to be dedicated to their tasks. Learning menus were also a big thing that stood out to me. I think it is great for students to have the autonomy to be able to choose what they want to do. As teachers, giving options can be tricky, so having the “entree” as the required to do, and then choices for appetizers, desserts, and side dishes is good for students, and creates creativity and difference in the classroom.Cooper
This chapter focused largely on the concept of tiering. Basically as teachers we should try to be flexible with the difficulty of our content so we can reach all learners. For students deemed to be in the lower tier they are given less challenging material that would be appropriate for the pace they’re learning at. The middle tier which would typically comprise the majority of the class would be given material that is moderately challenging, and the top tier would be given the most challenging work. I think this strategy while on the surface sounds like a great way to keep all students engaged it could also run into some issues. First, how do I determine which student belongs in which tier? If a student happens to not be engaged when I choose to gauge their levels he or she could potentially be receiving work far below a challenging level for them all year which could potentially make them even less engaged. In addition students could likely realize pretty quickly that there are different levels and may feel singled out or inadequate. Perhaps even students in the upper tier may feel it’s not fair that they are receiving more difficult work. While I do like the concept of having students feel appropriately challenged I think there could be problems with imposing a tier system. An alternative could be having individual conferences with students to gauge their comfort level with the material and give them a choice for either a less challenging or more challenging option.Laura
I had never heard of the concept of tiering before reading this chapter, but it sounds very similar to scaffolding. I understand how it can be a valuable tool in the classroom because it allows students to begin with a relatively simple task and then gradually build off of that knowledge while the complexity of the task at hand increases. In theory, it makes a lot of sense. The only thing I am worried about is learning how to “tier” at a rate that is comfortable and beneficial for my students. In order to do this, not only I am going to have practice tiering like Wormeli suggests, but I’m also going to have to really get to know my students. (It seems like everything we’ve been reading about goes back to the concept of knowing your students). Once I know where their strengths are and what things they need extra help with I will be able to tier their lessons accordingly. One thing I really like about the tiering strategies that Wormeli presents is that they are easily differentiated. A few of my favorite ones were learning contracts, RAFT(S) (which reminded me a lot of GRASPS) and one-word summaries. I think that learning contracts sound excellent for differentiation because they allow students to work at their own pace and to build from the level that they are at. RAFT(S) reminded me a lot of GRASPS, except it sounds like it would take a lot of planning to create “menus.” Lastly, I think that one-word summaries are good for the English classroom because they require students to exercise their vocabulary. Again, before I could use these ideas in my classroom I would need to know my students’ strengths and weaknesses.Rhi
This chapter was very confusing for me. After reading I think I was more confused about what tiering means. When I got to the end of it, there were some discussion questions that I decided to focus on. I think overall these questions addressed the main point and concern that I think a lot of teachers struggle to find a balance with, and that’s when to be firm with students and when to be more laid back. There are times when you’ll have a student who always slacks off and then there will be times where a student always does their work, but when the day comes that they do something out of the ordinary, how will you handle it? I think every situation, not only in teaching, but when making decisions, you have to take a step back and look at it as a whole. It’s important to treat every student with the same amount of respect and rules, but when a student is having a hard time and isn’t getting their work done, I think in this case it’s the job of the teacher to sit down with either the student or the student’s parents and find out what’s really going on. Maybe the work is boring, they don’t understand, or something outside of school has been going on that is distracting him/her from doing any school work. As well as communicating with the family, you can talk with other teachers about how the student is doing in their classes. If they have a similar view than something is probably going on and instead of punishing the student with bad grades or detention, find out the route of the problem and attempt to help this student succeed.